Light Behind Your Eyes (Ben Mason)
by StorytellerStef
Summary: Jodelle ("Jodi", "J" or "Jo") McFayden Lee, was just your average teenager, except for the being orphaned on day one and witnessing the end of the world. She can't remember much other than being dragged into a ship, after that there's nothing. One thing's for certain, in the post invasion world there's only one soul she can count on, one that she feels strongly connected to. Ben.


**Light Behind Your Eyes**

 **Ft. Ben Mason**

 **Jo's POV:**

 **I was re-reading** _ **Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone**_ **. It's what I always did; lose myself in the pages of a great book. This book in particular was one of my favorites. They were all so innocent then, the characters I mean. Harry was just a boy, finally freed (at least for a while) from the clutches of evil relatives, the Dursley's. Ron was a little red head and freckled faced boy who wasn't such a pain in the ass as he is later on. Neville was still a pudgy klutz whom I can't help but adore. Hermione was a little girl with a ton of book smarts and wild curls. And lastly Draco was a little twerp, not the inhumanly attractive man (as portrayed by Tom Felton) that every girl wants to screw.**

 **I'm not gonna lie I may have been one of those girls at that time but let's face it the man was destined for Hermione (even if J.K Rowling wrote differently).**

 **But I digress.**

 **I was eyeballs deep in Harry's first Quidditch match when a car pulled up to my house. A silver jeep to be exact. "Dara car pools here!"**

"' **Kay have a good day Jo. Don't forget everybody's going to the game later so if you decide to come here you'll be on your own."**

" **Okay," I rolled my eyes as I shut the door behind me. I bid my "house" farewell and hop into the swarm of teenagers inside the car. "Hey Lane."**

" **Hey Jo." My best friend (only friend really) smiled widely back at me from the front passenger seat. She was a perky girl with brown and blond streaked hair and bright red lipstick. We'd known each other for like ever and frankly I wouldn't have it any other way. She's my sister, or at least the closest thing I had to one.**

 **As for everyone else in car, well I don't know much about them, except of course for the quiet boy sitting in the left window seat. "Hey Ben."**

 **He looked over at me and smiled shyly. "Hey J."**

 **He was the only one other than Lane, who I would talk to, or at least say hi to. He (and Lane) unlike everyone else in that breakfast burrito scented car didn't annoy the holy shit out of me.**

 **I continued living in the world of Harry Potter until we pulled up to the school. We all thanked the driver, also known as Lane's mom, and made our way out into the crowd of students talking nonstop about the big lacrosse game.**

 **It was the same as usual for the first three periods. Pop quiz here and there, students mouthing off to teachers, and me in my own little world in the back of the class. Lunch time had started the same as it usually did. Lane and I talked a bit before she left for her drama club meeting on the other side of the school. Instead of spending the period alone in the cafeteria I preferred to spend it in the library.**

" **Morning Ms. Credence," I greeted the librarian as I made my way to the fantasy section. Even if I was already reading one book I always liked to see if there was anything new. There was something new that day but it wasn't a book.**

 **I was genuinely surprised to see such a familiar face. The face partially covered by somewhat long bangs and black rimmed glasses. The face that belonged to the quiet boy who sat in the left window seat during our carpool. "You know sci-fi is on the other side and historical fiction is just a few rows down that way." I pointed to my left.**

 **Ben smirked at me slightly as though he were nervous about something. Maybe he was embarrassed about being caught ogling works like** _ **Peter Pan**_ **or** _ **Twilight?**_ **I don't know but it was cute. "I-I just wanted to…um…"**

" **Try something new?"**

" **Yeah."**

 **I reached up to a shelf just above my head and grabbed a leather bound book. "Here try this one," I handed him the old copy of** _ **Peter Pan.**_

" **You remember," Ben said blushing at the memory.**

" **Yeah," after all it's not every day you get to play Wendy to a Peter Pan who doesn't know the story. That was something we'd never live down.**

 **There was an awkward silence between us, as there usually was, especially when we were alone. You see unlike Lane, who was more than comfortable flirting with the opposite sex, I couldn't even form a coherent thought around a guy, especially one I could possibly like…** _ **one who I shared the most awkward day of my existence with.**_

" **Um so where's your friend? You know, um, Hal's stalker?" I giggled at that. It was no secret that Lane had it bad for Hal Mason (Ben's older brother and big time hottie on campus).**

" **Drama meeting," I said. "They're having trouble deciding whether to perform Romeo & Juliet or A Midsummer Night's Dream for the winter play."**

" **Oh, well I'm partial to Peter Pan myself." Warmth flooded my cheeks.** _ **And here I thought Hal was the only flirt in that family.**_ **"So do you wanna hang out? You know since we're both loners today?"** _ **I want to hang out every day….I just don't have the guts to-.**_

" **Sure."** _ **I stand corrected**_ **.**

 **He took my hand in his and led the way to the front desk where Ms. Credence looked at us in awe. "I see you found everything alright." She smiled widely at us, as though she's been waiting for this day for a really long time…like we were a sort of miracle. I held Ben's hand tighter.**

" **Yes ma'am," he said as he handed her his book. She checked it out and stamped on the return date. All the while our hands never left each other.**

" **I hope you all have a nice day today," she said handing him his book.**

" **You too," I said as we made our way out of the library.**

 **Ben and I spent the rest of lunch talking. He told me about his family, his friends (who were off doing lord knows what in the chem lab), and his likes and dislikes. In turn I told him about my likes and dislikes, about Lane and her Hal-rants (which may or may not have scared the holy shit out of Ben).**

" **Remind me never to bring Lane to my house, EVER!"**

" **That's probably for the best. I mean can you imagine Lane, alone, in Hal's room?" Ben and I both shuttered at the thought.**

 **He then, to get away from the subject of my friend's psycho obsessing over his brother, asked about** _ **my**_ **family.**

" **They're okay. They're all going to the game later today," I said hoping to avoid the subject for now. I'm not ashamed of my foster family. Don't get me wrong I loved them all to death, especially Dara. I just don't feel comfortable enough to tell him (or anyone for that matter) about my situation just yet. Lord knows it was months before I came clean to Lane and told her that I was in fact an orphan.**

" **Oh, are you going too?" I shook my head.**

" **I don't like crowds."**

" **Really. But you're so calm right now and when we carpool..?"**

" **With the carpool I suck it up, no choice after all. But here…I don't know. I guess I feel kind of safe when I'm with you."**

 **The bell went off before he could respond signaling we had ten minutes to get to class before the detention slips start flying.**

 **I couldn't exactly concentrate the rest of the day. My eyes would either flicker towards Ben every five minutes or my thoughts would wander away trying to decide whether or not today was a dream and if it was whether I wanted to wake up or not. My mind was aiming towards not.**

 **When school ended Ben was waiting outside my History class. "Hey."**

" **Hey I was wondering if maybe you'd wanna hang at my friend's house with me," he said. "I mean if you're not doing anything…"**

" **Um, okay." I said just as Lane came up to us.**

" **Oh, hope I'm not interrupting anything."**

" **Ben was just inviting me to his buddy's place to hang." Lane then proceeds to share an awkward hello with Ben.**

" **Well I was gonna see if you were gonna come watch the final practice with me but I guess you already made plans." She said looking from me to Ben. "I'll just see you tomorrow then."**

" **See ya," I give her a one armed hug, trying like hell not to drop my book on our feet.**

" **Have fun," Lane said as she walked away with a cheeky grin and a look in her eyes that said 'I WANT DETAILS!'**

" **So shall we?" Ben nodded and proceeded to lead the way.**

" **Um, need a hand with those?" he asked halfway across the lot. I nodded and handed him my little mountain of text books.**

 **We met up with his buddy Aaron, whose house we were going to, just outside the school. "Who's the chick?"**

" **I'm Jo," I said shaking his hand. From there we walked two blocks to a white house that was only a tad bit smaller than mine. Once there Aaron turned on his x-box and handed Ben a controller. We took turns playing each other in Call of Duty, and considering I 'd never played before I kind of sucked.**

 **After a while Ben and I both got tired of being riddled with bullets, so we did (as proper nerds usually do) some homework instead. Or at least we tried. We just ended up talking some more and laughing at random things we said. Ben asked me about movies I like to watch, books I like to read, music I liked to listen to, and I asked him the same. We learned a great deal about each other; like we both absolutely love Star Wars and agreed that we'd have to have a marathon at his house soon.**

 **Finally when the sun began to set we packed our things and after promising we'd be back tomorrow Ben walked me home. "I had a lot of fun today."**

" **Me too, I haven't laughed like that in like forever."**

" **C-can I, maybe, call you sometime?"**

" **Sure, hand me your phone." I typed in my number in his cell and sent myself a brief text. "So see you tomorrow then?"**

" **Yeah, definitely."**

"' **Kay, well bye." I was just about to turn when Ben leaned in and pecked me on my cheek. It was a quick kiss but it was enough to stun me as though I'd been hit with a Taser.**

 **Ben smiled, his cheeks filled with a rosy hue. "Bye J."**

 **I spent the rest of the night wondering how a normal day ended up being not so normal. Little did I know that the next day all that we considered to be normal would cease to exist.**


End file.
